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lanuaiy 14, 2009 Page A4 O pinion Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. Supporting Equal Pay Obama will correct wrongs by J udge G reg M a this O ne of B a ra c k O bam a’s first presiden tial acts will be to sign a bill that will overturn a Suprem e court ruling that m ak es it d iffic u lt for women and other minori - ties to challenge discrim inatory practices at work, school and in their com m unities. The president-elect, along with the Dem ocrats in Congress are eager to step in where the Bush adm inistration w ouldn’t and plan to challenge the court’s som e times narrow views on civil rights and justice. desk; O bam a, by co n trast, w elcom es the op p o rtu n ity to co rrect this wrong. D uring the p resi dential cam paign there w as m u c h d e b a te , am ong w om en, many o f w hom w ere w h ite, ab o u t w hether or not they should cast their votes for O bam a or Sen. H illa ry C lin to n . M o st cam e around and eventually supported Obam a; they should be glad to know that he is com m itted to w om en’s rights and has vow ed to close the pay gap betw een men and women. " In some cases, judges, after originally ruling fo r the employee, reversed their decisions and ruled in favor o f the employer, saying the Supreme Court decision left them no choice. * This goes far beyond gender In May 2007, the court ruled equality, however. Obama iscom- that although Lilly Ledbetter, a m itted to creating an equal and white woman, was subjected to just America foreveryone. In both sex based pay discrim ination by 1988 and 1991, C ongress ex her employer, but ruled in favor of panded civil rights protections the em ployer because she had filed her suit beyond a 180 dead that w ere threatened by court decisions. W e can look for the line. Since the ruling, many low er new administration to do the same, courts used the decision to argue stepping in w hen the court fails to for dism issal o f race and gender- serve the needs o f the people. As a form er civil rights attor based education and housing dis crim ination suits. In some cases, ney, the president-elect is familiar judges, after originally ruling for with the laws that both support the em ployee, reversed their de and get in the way o f true equal cisions and ruled in favor o f the rights for all; this know ledge, em ployer, saying the Supreme along w ith his desire for real Court decision left them no choice. change, should bring about a The proposed legislation will broad effort to level the playing overturn that decision, increas for so many. Judge Greg Mathis is vice ing the statute of lim itations, pro viding victims with more tim e to president o f Rainbow PUSH and find justice in the courts. Presi a board member of the Southern dent Bush threatened to veto the Christian Leadership Confer bill if it ever made its way to his ence. Ending the Cycle of Youth Violence Public health approach needed B arbara B aylor W e could not make out w here everyone w as running to or why th ey w ere ru nning. W e assum ed a fight had broken out in the mall and youth w ere by running to look at it. Then aii of a sudden, we heard the shots! For a delayed moment, it did not register. Someone shouted, “ S om ebody’s shooting, every body dow n!" Terrified, we b e gan to run. People were franti cally running for their lives, all trying to take cover anyw here we could. There was scream ing yding off last year’s models NEW SINGLE SPEEDS FROM $299.00 G IR CERTIFICATES AND LAYAWAY PLANS AVAILABLE 122 N. 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P resum ably, the gunm an felt that his option for resolving ju ry P rev en tio n and C o n tro l in the C e n te rs for D isease C ontrol and P rev en tio n states th at v io lence is a p u b lic h ealth issue becau se o f its trem en d o u s im pact on the h ealth and w ell b eing o f o u r youth. Youth violence is now a world wide epidemic. According toCDC, “H om icide is the second leading Having survived the traumatic e . mall shooting, 1 began pondering IJ /» •» i „ we failed to teach our children the value and sanctity o f human life. . i the co n flict w as to shoot the young woman and her male friend. So with no apparent regard for the m all sh o p p e rs liv e s, the shooter fired his gun not know ing where the bullets w ould end up. Fortunately, no one w as fa tally wounded. V iolence affects everyone! The W orld Report on V iolence and Health rem inds us that vio lence can also affect the health o f com m unities by increasing health care costs, decreasing property values and disrupting social ser vices. T he N ational C e n te r fo r In- t j gan pondering if we, individuals w ho live in the com m unity, failed to teach our children the value and sanctity o f hum an life. H ave we failed to train them how to love and forgive? Have we m oved aw ay from “com m unity parenting” w here neighbors took resp o n sib ility for discip lin in g youth in their com m unities. Has the glam orization o f violence in the m edia attracted our youth to unreal lifestyles? W e m ust do som ething about the proliferation o f guns in our com m unities and illegal guns in the hands o f our youth. P r e s id e n t- E le c t O bam a pledges to en d the dangerous cycle o f youth violence by finan cially supporting innovative lo cal program s that im plem ent a com prehensive public health ap proach that include com m unity- based strategies to prevent youth violence. Now is the tim e to write Presi dent E lect O bam a with our cre ative ideas for ending youth vio lence in our com m unities. Vi sit change .gov to share your ideas. O ur children are depend ing on us. cause o f death for persons 10 to 24 years o f age in the U. S.” F or this age group, it is the leading cause o f death for A fri can A m ericans. M oreover, it is the second leading cause o f death for L atino A m ericans and Asian A m ericans/Pacific Islanders; and the third leading cause o f death for N ative A m ericans and A las kan Natives. As a H ealth Care advocate and teacher, I heartily believe that posi tive parenting is a prim ary deter Barbara Baylor is Minister rent to interpersonal violence am ong youth. H aving survived fo r Health Care Justice at the the traum atic mall shooting. I be- United Church o f Christ. ■■■■■M W M M Democracy from the Bottom Socialism seems to be working in Venezuela P eter P hillips DenKKracy from the bottom is evolving as a 10-year social revo lution in Venezuela. L e d by P re s id e n t H u g o Chavez, the United Socialist Party o f V enezuela gained over 1.5 m il lion voters in the Nov. 23 elec tions. “ It was a w onderful victory,” said Professor C arm en Carrero with the Com m unications Stud ies D epartm ent o f the Bolivarian U niversity in C aracas. “W e won 81 percent o f the city m ayor posi tions and 17 o f 23 o f the state g o v ern o rs.” The university is housed in the form er oil m inistry building and now serves 8,(XX) students throughout V enezuela. The col lege is symbolic o f the dem ocratic s o c ia lis t c h a n g e s o c c u r rin g throughout the country. Before the election o f Chavez in 1998, college attendance in V enezuela was prim arily for the rich. Today 1.8 m illion students attend col lege in the country, three tim es the rate 10 years ago. Bottom up dem ocracy in V en ezuela starts with the 25,(XX)com- m unity councils elected in every n eig h b o rh o o d in the country. T here are 34 locally controlled co m m unity television stations and 4(X) radio stations in the bar- by I rios throughout Venezuela. C om m u n ity radio, TV and new spapers are the voice o f the people, where they describe the view ers/listeners as the “users" o f m edia instead o f the passive audiences. Dem ocratic socialism means health care, jobs, food, and secu rity, in neighborhoods where in m any cases nothing but absolute poverty existed lOyears ago. With unem ploym ent dow n to a U.S. In V enezuela the corporate m edia are still ow ned by the elites. The five m ajor TV netw orks, and 9 o f the 10 m ajor new spapers m aintain a continuing m edia e f fort to underm ine C havez. But despite the corporate m edia and continuing US taxpayer financial support to anti-C havez opposi tion institutions from U SA ID and National Endow m ent for D em oc racy ($20 m illion annually), two- thirds o f the people in V enezuela * The democracies o f South America are realizing that the neo liberal formulas fo r capitalism are not working. X level, sharing the wealth has taken real m eaning in V enezuela. Despite a 50 percent increases in the prices o f food last year, local store offer governm ent sub sidized cooking oil, com meal, meat, pow ered milk at 30-50 per cent o ff market. A dditionally, there are now 3,500 local com m unal banks with a $1.6 billion budget offering n eig h b o rh o o d -b ased m icro -fi nancing loans for hom e im prove m ents, small businesses, and per sonal em ergencies. continue to support him and the United Socialist Party. T h e d em o cracies o f South America are real izing that the neo- liberal form ulas for capitalism are not w orking for the people and that new fo rm so f resource alloca tion are necessary for hum an bet terment. It is a learning process for all involved and certainly a dem o cratic effort from the bottom up. Peter Phillips is a professor o f sociology at Sonoma State Uni versity in California.